I know a lot of people here don't like me, so if you're not one of those people, I need as many opinions as I can on this situation...

Basically, my friends want me to pay for the damage done to their cars in an accident where I was driving one of the two cars involved. Here's what happened:

It started off as a nice day trip down the shore. When me and my friends decided we had enough of the beach, we went back to the cars to unload all our stuff. We were thinking about walking the boards for a while, but most of us were tired, plus one of my friends got a call about a huge party back home. After hearing about that, it was pretty much a unanimous decision among the group to start heading back home. But my one friend, who we all think is bi-polar or has some sort of anger disorder, started to freak out about how he wanted to walk the boards. He had a few drinks in him, and that's what usually triggers the anger fits he has. So he runs off towards the boardwalk angrily, turns his phone off, and doesn't even give us a chance to really discuss the situation. He was one of the people that drove, so we were basically just stuck there and we couldn't even call him.

We waited about a half hour, and decided that we would go find him. We finally found him and told him that we all really wanted to go home. After talking for about minute, he decided to try and take off again, but we grabbed him. He tried to fight us off, and even punched me in the head while doing so. Fortunately, there were cops right next to us the whole time, and they straightened things out before it got too ugly. After that, he finally started walking back to the car with us, but was still pissed off. He only had about 4 drinks over a span of between 5 to 6 hours, but because the combination of that AND his anger fit, I told him he wasn't fit to drive. When we tried to get his keys, he gave us a hard time about that too, but he eventually gave in, and we set off for home.

So were on our way home, and he's still angry as hell, and he says "I have minimum insurance coverage so if you crash my car you're paying for it". I never get into accidents, so I thought nothing of it. But about a half hour later, I'm driving on the highway, and I see this dark figure in the middle of the road from about a half-mile away. It wasn't moving and seemed inanimate. I was highly suspicious at first, but for reasons I will NEVER understand, none of the cars in front of me braked, as people usually do when something dangerous or unusual is in the middle of the road, if only to alert other drivers. So I get closer, and before I could even see what the fuck it was, it HOPS right into my lane, as I'm going like 70 mph. Wouldn't you know, it's some kind of enormous fucking quail or something. I'm not even kidding, by the looks of it, the thing probably weighed between 100-150 lbs. So with about 1 second to make a decision, I brake to about 40 mph and swerve slightly out of my lane, missing the beast by a margin so close that I was initially 100% positive I nailed it. This was good news for that fucking foul, but not for my friend, who ran right into the back of my other friend's car. It put huge dents in both vehicles. We couldn't call the cops to document it because my friend that rear-ended me had a safe but detectable amount of alcohol in him, and he doesn't turn 21 till next month. We'll I'm guessing that's what he was thinking because he just drove off angrily.

Short version:
I was driving my friend's car against his will because I didn't think it was safe for him to drive at the time. My other friend was following me home when an enormous bird of some sort jumps into my lane. In a split second reaction, I braked and swerved to avoid this bird which easily weighed over 100 pounds. The kid who was following me(who had a borderline safe amount of alcohol in him) rear-ended me. Both cars were dented pretty badly.

I know that both of them are considering making me pay in full for both of their cars. Is that fair?

06-24-2008

IamSam

Quote:

Originally Posted by bighead384

Short version:
I was driving my friend's car against his will because I didn't think it was safe for him to drive at the time. My other friend was following me home when an enormous bird of some sort jumps into my lane. In a split second reaction, I braked and swerved to avoid this bird which easily weighed over 100 pounds. The kid who was following me(who had a borderline safe amount of alcohol in him) rear-ended me. Both cars were dented pretty badly.

Was this 'borderline safe amount of alcohol' closer to .08 or .12?

I couldn't resist.

PS. Your description of the 'beast' of a bird made me laugh quite a bit.

06-24-2008

Endymion

you were driving, you pay for it.

also, i somehow doubt a four foot tall bird was walking around on the highway.

06-24-2008

Nicole

Did you swerve right in front of other car or did he have reasonable braking distance? The fact that he was drinking and he ran up the back of you makes it hard to pick.

If you gave him a reasonable amount of distance for the speed you were doing in which to brake I don't see how it's your fault. Part of driving is being alert to what's going on around you so if something out of the ordinary happens you can avoid running up the back of somebody else. Which I have done and I swear I'm never driving that tired again.

06-24-2008

Little_Miss_1565

You might be responsible for the damage to the car you were driving, but it certainly would have been worse with a drunk crazy person driving.

But, if you are rear-ended, especially on the highway, it is pretty much never your fault.

06-24-2008

Rag Doll

You should split the damage on the car you were driving with the kid that owns. You were doing him a favor driving it, because he would have probably done more damage and it would not have been safe for him to drive. So he should pay some of it, I think. It's HIS fault you were driving it. The other kid....pfft. Like 1565 said, it's really never your fault if you're rear-ended. I just rear-ended someone and I'm pretty sure I'm going to be fucked even though a 3rd party caused the accident. He needs to deal with his own car.

btw....uhhh, i don't know what kind of birds you have in south jersey, but could it have been a turkey? they're pretty massive up here...

06-24-2008

nieh

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nicole

Did you swerve right in front of other car or did he have reasonable braking distance? The fact that he was drinking and he ran up the back of you makes it hard to pick.

If you gave him a reasonable amount of distance for the speed you were doing in which to brake I don't see how it's your fault.

True. If he was following you far enough back and was paying attention, you should've been able to slam your brakes and come to a complete stop and he still shouldn't have hit you. The only way this would be your fault is if your going "slightly out of your lane" was essentially cutting the other person off or if you're leaving stuff out.

06-24-2008

bighead384

Quote:

Originally Posted by IamSam

Was this 'borderline safe amount of alcohol' closer to .08 or .12?

I'd say between .06 - .07 if I had to guess, he had four or five beers, but we were there from noon till pretty much the rest of the afternoon.

06-24-2008

bighead384

Quote:

Originally Posted by Endymion

you were driving, you pay for it.

also, i somehow doubt a four foot tall bird was walking around on the highway.

It was no less than three feet. Fucking HUGE. I'm not even exaggerating a little.